


Like Father Like Son

by andthisbrightstar



Series: Mini Barba [1]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: M/M, Mini Barba, Slice of Life, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 05:52:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15679305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andthisbrightstar/pseuds/andthisbrightstar
Summary: Matteo is only four, but somehow becoming more and more of a mini Rafael Barba with each passing day.





	Like Father Like Son

**Author's Note:**

> so i'm probably going to write a longform fic explaining matteo's story more but condensed: matteo is rafael's son from a former fling who rafael didn't know about until she died and social services showed up at his door. enjoy!

Matteo ran at Sonny when he saw him from the other side of his preschool classroom, jumping into his arms in a fit of giggles. Sonny picked him up and spun in a circle once, laughing like a little kid himself. He had been working long hours on an especially complicated case lately and wasn’t getting back home until Matteo was already in bed, so this was the first time seeing him awake in almost a week.

“Oh I missed you so much buddy.” Sonny said.

“I missed you too Sonny!” Matteo exclaimed and hugged his neck, Sonny squeezing him back. He bent down to grab his backpack from his cubby hook, swinging it over his own shoulder as they walked out of the building. Sonny had by some miracle of God convinced the precinct to let him take a cruiser to pick him up in, and was about to bounce out of his shoes with excitement to show Matteo.

“You got the policeman car!” Matteo said when he saw it, his little jaw hitting the floor. Sonny beamed.

“I sure did buddy, are you excited?” He said and Matteo nodded, squirming to get out of his arms and closer to the car. Sonny opened the door and helped him into his carset, getting him situated with a water bottle and bag of pretzels. He knew he would get chewed out if he returned the car with crumbs, but it was nothing he couldn’t clean up before. Seeing his- Rafael’s son so happy made it worth it. He didn’t realize how much he cared about him until he didn’t see him for so long, and it made a part of him nervous. What he had with Rafael got more serious with every passing day, and he knew they needed to have a conversation about the future sooner rather than later. But for now he was content to play dad number two when he could, and fall asleep next to the love of his life every night.  
-  
They were almost back to the apartment complex when the car was detoured because of construction, Sonny sighing when he realized it would add another 10 minutes to their drive. He was so frustrated he didn't realize the traffic light was red until he was about to slide under it, slamming on the breaks just as a car skidded by from the other direction. The sudden breaking shook the car, Sonny muttering something under his breath, and the four year old in the backseat yelling _JESUS FUCK!_ at full volume. 

Sonny whipped around in shock.

“Matteo where did you learn that word?” He rushed out, Matteo looking back at and shrugging as he shoved more pretzels in his mouth without a care in the world.

“Papi said it when he got mad when he was working on somethin’” He mumbled, the look on Sonny’s face making him recoil and bite his lip. “Am I in trouble?”

The light turned green and Sonny turned back to the road, glancing at the little boy in the rearview mirror.

“No sweetheart, but it’s not a very nice word. Sometimes people get mad and let it slip out but we’re not really supposed to, do you get that?” He said and Matteo nodded, not pressing the topic further and moving on to rambling to Sonny about the other kids in his class.  
-  
“Before I fall asleep, you wouldn't believe what your sweet little innocent four year old said in the car today.” Sonny said and looked down at Rafael, who was resting his head on his chest. Rafael raised an eyebrow, Sonny trying not to laugh as he heightened his voice to match Matteo’s tone, repeating the phrase.

“You’re kidding.” Rafael said and sat up, groaning and running a hand down his face in exasperation. 

“He’s lucky it was at a stoplight or I would have crashed.” Sonny laughed, pulling the lawyer’s hand away from his face.

“Well he’s definitely mine.” He said as he sank back down onto Sonny’s chest, looking up at him.

“I love that kid Rafi.” Sonny let out, biting his lip when he realized he hadn’t said that out loud to anyone yet, except Olivia behind a closed door when he went to tell her his address had changed to Rafael’s. Rafael sensed his nervousness, sliding up so he was close enough to kiss him, cupping his face in his hand.

“I know you do.” He said as he pulled back, smiling softly at him. Sonny let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and put an arm around Rafael as he started to doze off on his shoulder. There was no need to worry about the future when the present was so damn good.

**Author's Note:**

> i thrive off of comments, lemme know if you want to see more stories about this little trio and feel free to suggest ideas/storylines!


End file.
